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ISBT 128 Blues


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When I logged into Blood Bank Talk, the banner displayed "Hello sjlevine it appears that you have not posted on our forums in several weeks, why not take a few moments to ask a question, help provide a solution or just engage in a conversation with another member in any one of our forums?"

My response to this is that I would visit and post sooner if I did not have so much work to do, particularly in the area of ISBT 128.

I will say that what we have done so far has been a learning experience. We have instruments, such as the Abbott Commander, that will take ISBT 128 numbers, but leave them unprocessed, thus leaving it to us to process them before they go into our Blood Bank Information System. Abbott has no plans, they tell us, to make the commander ISBT 128 compliant, even though Anti-HTLV I/II and Anti-HIV assays are not yet licensed on the Prism.

Anyway, I came, I looked and I posted. And vented.

sjl:D

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The FDA recently restated its requirement for bar coding of all blood and blood products. Further they restated their support for the use of ISBT128. AABB has reaffirmed its required implementation by May 1, 2008 and although a blood bank can petition for a delay the die is cast and Abbott ought to get on board.

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Although ARC is committed to ISBT128 their new computer system which implements ISBT is not ready with 510(k) and to roll out at all locations will take some time, thus AABB granted a delay for ARC but not for others. Most ABC and all other blood centers are moving forward to meet May 1, 2008 date. ARC must and can receive ISBT128 since other places like the military are shippng ISBT128 labeled blood already.

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My response to this is that I would visit and post sooner if I did not have so much work to do, particularly in the area of ISBT 128.

Anyway, I came, I looked and I posted. And vented.

sjl:D

The ISBT Blues... could we get a song for that?

Or some support group? (BBTALK works pretty well for that support.)

I don't think that when AABB mandated that everyone switch to ISBT they really considered all of the complications for smaller transfusion services. We pool, aliquot, etc. so we need to use ISBT.

Getting hospital IT departments to understand how to set up the printers, so we can even start our BB portion of it, has been a real challenge to most facilities that I know. The computer and other vendors have not done a good job with this entire process, leaving us in the lurch.

Linda F

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  • 3 months later...

I am very certain that everyone concerned in the industry did not know all the remifications of ISBT128 for the various types of facilities, including AABB, ICCBBA, and FDA. Digi-Trax as a key industry supplier of Hema Trax on-demand ISBT128 labeling printers, software and labels can be a good source of consultive support for implementation. We suggest you contact our sales group for help. (800-356-6126; info@digi-trax.com)

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I requested a variance from the AABB and was denied. However, the letter stated that we needed to be able to handle products we received with ISBT labels, not that we generate and ISBT format label when we pool, split, aliquot, etc... Sunquest is not able perform label generation tasts in the ISBT format at this time. So, our system is setup to import products that are either codabar or ISBT and if we relabel them as part of processing we are using the Sunquest generated Codarbar label (there is a bit more to that, but it isn't worth going into detail on). I, personally, am really frustrated because the AABB forced adoption is actually going to increase our risk of error until Sunquest and the ARC on fully on-board.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Oh, yes the stand alone software....that must be approved thru the budget of most hopspitals thru the IT departments. IT departments that generally absolutely DO NOT WANT any stand alone software in the hospital when there is fully intergrated Sunquest promising the same capabilities FREE in a few months....

That sure did sound like the blues didn't it?:)

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  • 4 weeks later...

Are you on Version 6.X version? If you are, using the Hematrax system I have several Sunquest clients that are as compliant as possible right now. They have to print labels through Hematrax without an interface to Sunquest, however they have built their codes using the "E" code from ISBT 128 to ensure a safer system. It's not perfect but I feel very good about the solution we are promoting.

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Hello Robin and Debbie: Thanks for your support of HemaTrax. We have worked with Sunquest to provide the intrim Stand-Alone solution 6.x. I believe Sunquest has taken that fact that eventually they will be providing an interface solution once they get FDA 510(k), but they have to be very careful about what is said in regard to FDA. I believe the pricing reflects the fact that both products will eventually avaiable. The Stand-Alone may continue to have value as a complete maintance down-time solution and back up. The hardware can be used with both systems. We all do need to make some money to support this continuing product effort and ISBT128, ICCBBA ansd AABB activities. Hope we don't "qualify" as a conspiracy.

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You are not spending money for nothing....Hematrax is the system that Sunquest will always use...they will not have their own printing system included in the Sunquest system...it will be an interface to Hematrax, so I don't understand your issue. It is either pay now, get the standalone version and then when the interface is available you will get it...or wait for the interface and pay then. You absolutely need Hematrax to print labels and if you do more than thawing units...like splitting, pooling etc. you need to print labels.

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Robin,

For the Sunquest users that are defining their products with actual E codes, are they having any issues with the system confusing the code with a bar code scan? A previous poster who defined his products by using a leading E claimed he would get an error message when the code was entered but was able to blow through it. Any experience with this?

Dawn

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Sunquest does seem to get "confused" in a few places, but if you always scan the product code, even if it displays when you enter the DIN, you won't have any problems.

We have built all of our Sunquest product codes using the ISBT number and the donation type, Example RBC Leukocytes Reduced: E0382V = RED BLOOD CELLS Leukocytes Reduced , E0382D = Directed RED BLOOD CELLS Leukocytes Reduced , E03821 = Autologous RED BLOOD CELLS Leukocytes Reduced, E0382X =Autologous RED BLOOD CELLS LeukoReduced BIOHAZARD.

We have also built very specific component preparation functions for each product,such as, irradiation, matching the appropriate ISBT codes. Example: Component prep function I0382V (I = irradiate) -Input Product = E0382V, Output Product = E0379V. This makes it much easier for the techs. The product code is right on the bag.

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Your naming convention makes the most sense to me. And I whole heartedly agree with building very specific component preps. I'm sure your techs appreciate not having to go seaching for the appropriate code when they sit down at the stand alone to print the label.

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You can't have an Alpha character followed by a string of numerics followed by another Alpha character. That is the scenario that looks to Sunquest like a Codabar.

So 'A1234B' would not be a good choice for a Sunquest Component Type code.

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We have been using this nomenclatue since last September when the donor room at one of our hospitals started labeling with ISBT labels. It seems to work fine. When it was first proposed to me I was sure it wouldn't work, but it does. That is why in some fields you need to scan the unit number not type it in. We want the techs to use the scanner. If they have to type it for some reason we type it as =<E3104V

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Sunquest does seem to get "confused" in a few places, but if you always scan the product code, even if it displays when you enter the DIN, you won't have any problems.

We have built all of our Sunquest product codes using the ISBT number and the donation type, Example RBC Leukocytes Reduced: E0382V = RED BLOOD CELLS Leukocytes Reduced , E0382D = Directed RED BLOOD CELLS Leukocytes Reduced , E03821 = Autologous RED BLOOD CELLS Leukocytes Reduced, E0382X =Autologous RED BLOOD CELLS LeukoReduced BIOHAZARD.

We have also built very specific component preparation functions for each product,such as, irradiation, matching the appropriate ISBT codes. Example: Component prep function I0382V (I = irradiate) -Input Product = E0382V, Output Product = E0379V. This makes it much easier for the techs. The product code is right on the bag.

I do not know how does sunquest displays unit transfused to a patient. we tried same way but in our LIS under patient's medical record# all transfused patient's shows up with short name...it would be E0382D, E0382X etc. It will be very hard for our staff to figure out which one is RBC & which one is SDP or plasma??

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For small hospitals that pool and split about 10 times a year, the Digi-Trax software is just too expensive. We also use Sunquest, but haven't moved to Version 6.3 yet. Still using version 5.4. My schedule just hasn't found time to start validation, and I'm already working 10-12 hour days. Thank god our supplier won't be ready for ISBT 128 until August!

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Sunquest has yet to release their 6.3, awaiting FDA 510(k) so they are prohibited saying much. The price they charge for Hema Trax will carry their clients forward from Hema Trax stand-alone to Hema Trax TCP/IP interfaced. The interfaced product will eliminate any manual transposition errors. If any Sunquest user is very low volume they can get pre-printed labels from Digi-Trax through the "Speed Print" program. See www.digi-trax.com , click "Media and Supplies" and click "Speed Print".

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Has anyone who is using Sunquest 5.3 come up with a work-around for the pooling and splitting of products issues? We have figured out most glitches ISBT has thrown us (thawed products!!)but these 2 are still causing headaches!! 5.3 gives us 'P'numbers for pools and '/'numbers for splits but there's no way to print an ISBT label with these donor ID #'s. We have the Computype labeling system and are printing 2x2 labels for each quadrant. Our AABB inspection is coming any day now and we are sure to be a guinea pig for the new standards!! Thanks for any suggestions!!!:cries:

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